KENTISH'S EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

X273/1. Will of Thomas Kentish, 1711.

X273/2-27. Deeds of Campton property, 1628-98.

X273/28-41. Leases, surveys and valuation of the Burystead, Campton, 1731-1828.

X273/42-58. Appointments of trustees, 1739-1832.

X273/59-77. Chancery papers, 1828-32, and correspondence.

X273/78-90. Apprenticeship indentures and drafts, 1742-61.

This collection covers the history of Kentish's Educational Foundation, founded by Thomas Kentish of Wheathampstead for the education and apprenticing of poor boys of the name of Kentish.

It also gives details of the Burystead, Campton, which formed the endowment both for this and for 10s. p.a. for bread for the Campton poor. The deeds throw light both on this, and on the 17th century history of the Ventris family of Campton manor; while the estate papers and some of the letters illuminate the history of the Burystead while it belonged to Kentish's Foundation.

The history is straightforward, except for a temporary difficulty in 1830 when one of the trustees was of unsound mind; and except for some lack of strictness in the 18th century administration.